Following the Chaucer: Here and Now exhibition (2023–2024) at the Bodleian Library, the conference Chaucer in the Age of Medievalism—sponsored by the Modernités Médiévales association and the New Chaucer Society—took place in Nancy in November 2025. The event was a great success, bringing together speakers from across Europe and North America, and confirming both the vitality of Chaucerian medievalism and the global relevance of Chaucer’s reception today.
In the wake of this successful gathering, we are now preparing a collective volume and seeking additional chapters to complement the proceedings. We particularly welcome contributions that engage with Axis 1 (Medievalist Echoes of Chaucer’s Work), including studies focusing on the theatre, William Morris, and the use of Chaucer in contemporary creative projects, such as Patience Agbabi’s Refugee Tales (2016) and its engagement with issues of memory, identity, and inclusion.
Far from being confined to his era, Geoffrey Chaucer’s work continues to resonate through the centuries, inspiring a multitude of post-medieval representations. The poet himself remains an evocative figure, sometimes invoked even without direct reference to his texts, suggesting an autonomous legacy of Chaucer both as author and cultural symbol. Whether through cinema, music, theatre, television, poetry, or other artistic forms, Chaucer’s influence continues to manifest in diverse and often unexpected ways. This volume invites contributors to examine how adaptations and reinterpretations of Chaucer and/or his work by artists from varied cultural backgrounds enrich our understanding of his legacy. These modern and contemporary re-imaginings raise compelling questions concerning intercultural dialogue, the politics of memory, and the evolution of popular culture.
Axis 1: Medievalist Echoes of Chaucer’s Work
This axis examines how Chaucer’s writings are reinterpreted and adapted in contemporary culture through various artistic forms. What specific Chaucerian motifs and themes resonate today, and why? How do artists preserve, transform, or mobilize medieval elements in their adaptations?
Particular attention is invited to the influence of William Morris, whose Kelmscott Canterbury Tales and works such as The Earthly Paradise fundamentally shaped modern perceptions of Chaucer from the nineteenth century onward. Contributions may explore how Morris and other artists reframed Chaucer to suit their aesthetic and ideological visions, and how these reframings continue to affect today’s reception of Chaucer.
We also encourage chapters on theatrical and poetic performances, and their role in renewing our relationship to Chaucer’s texts. Examples such as Jean “Binta” Breeze’s performance of The Wife of Bath at Brixton Market (2009) illustrate the dynamic encounters made possible by socially engaged or site-specific interpretations. Similarly, contemporary projects like Patience Agbabi’s Refugee Tales (2016) mobilize Chaucerian structures to address urgent themes of memory, identity, and inclusion, demonstrating how Chaucer’s legacy can frame critical conversations in the present.
Axis 2: Chaucer Himself — Incarnations and Appropriations
Beyond the endurance of his poetry, Chaucer as a character appears in various works and rewritings, from Brian Helgeland’s A Knight’s Tale (2001) to The Simpsons (2009) and the French TV series Thierry la Fronde (1965). These portrayals raise questions about popular and scholarly receptions of Chaucer, the uses of biographical knowledge, and the cultural significance of invoking the medieval poet in modern media. Chapters exploring these issues remain welcome.
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Practical Information
Deadline for submissions: 19 December 2025
Length of submissions: 1,500 characters (including spaces) / approx. 250 words
Deadline for the accepted chapters: 15 March 2026
Length of chapters: 30,000 characters (including spaces)
Submission and contact: Please send your chapter proposal jointly to Justine Breton (justine.breton [at] univ-lorraine.fr) and
Jonathan Fruoco (jonathan.fruoco [at] gmail.com).